Thicker Than Blood
by ladyanaconda
Summary: Suddenly the baby laughed, flailing her little arms and reaching up to grab one of the crocodile's claws, not knowing that very claw could rip her apart should its owner want to. Leatherhead tried to draw his claw back, but the baby squealed and only tugger harder. "Well, I guess you and I will be together for a while."
1. Discovery

Thicker than Blood.

Chapter 1- The Discovery

The storm continued raging over New York City, the thunders raged inside the clouds, and unleashed their fury into the black sky. Only a few cars were driving through the streets, the heavy raindrops falling onto them, flooding every corner and street, not enough to affect the humans, but enough to drench anyone who was foolish enough to remain outdoors at that climate.

While mainly affecting the streets, the New York City Sewer system was, at an extent, affected as well by the rain; the puddles formed at the surface sometimes fell into the sewers like waterfalls, but no one bothered to fix it, since people knew there was no one living down in the sewers who could complain about it.

Or so they thought…

* * *

"Argh, damn it!" Raphael growled for the fifth time, trying to save what was left of his comics and magazines, tucking them inside boxes, "Did I mention how much I hate rain?"

Leonardo rolled his eyes, "Yeah, about three times. Stop complaining! Would you rather be under the actual rain?" he said while putting an empty bucket to temporally stop one of the leakages of the ceiling.

"Well, at least I'm doing better than Donnie," when Raphael's features turned into a mischievous grin, Leonardo soon knew he was probably planning a prank.

"What did you do this time?"

"You'll see…"

The sound of a door opening and water splashing answered his question. Raphael started to laugh uncontrollably when Donnie walked into the living room, completely drenched in rain water, a bucket on his head, glaring at Raphael. Leonardo couldn't help it, and snickered slightly.

"Haha, very funny, Raph," the turtle clad in purple growled while taking the bucket off his head and tossing it aside, "Very mature."

"Come on, Donnie! Can't you accept a joke every once in a while?" Raphael replied, still laughing, clutching his stomach.

"If those jokes didn't occur almost daily, perhaps I would!"

"Speaking of jokes, have any of you guys seen Mikey?" Leonardo inquired upon noticing the youngest turtle was missing, "I haven't seen him for hours."

"I think he is accompanying April somewhere," Donnie replied, shaking the water off his skin, "He didn't say when he would be back, but I have the feeling he'll take a while."

"I thought they said they would be visiting Leatherhead, didn't they?"

"Knowing that giant gator, he'll probably be out," Rapha commented.

* * *

Leatherhead silently crept through the sewers, seeing if there were any lost fish swimming in the murky waters, although he knew the probabilities were low. Sometimes, Mikey and April would bring him some pizza, but even though he found it delicious, he preferred the taste of fresh fish; there were times he would sneak out of the sewers, dive into the ocean and catch a few fishes to eat, but in days when there were too many people on the docks, the turtles invited him to eat pizza. Splinter would teach him to control his rather-unpredictable temper afterwards, and he was proud to say it was helping him very much.

Suddenly, a low crying reached his ears, coming from one of the tunnels up ahead. Sniffing, he picked up the scent of milk and innocent, young flesh. Curious, he walked down the tunnel, illuminated by the moonlight filtering through the sewer tapes. Leatherhead followed the sound, which became louder and clearer the closer he got. Finally, at the end of one of the tunnels, just besides an old pipe hole, was a baby wrapped in a pink blanket, dirtied by the murky water of the sewers. Blinking, Leatherhead carefully picked up the babe, who fit in the palm of his large clawed hands, pulling the blanket away carefully in order to get a better look.

Golden amber eyes peered up into his toxic green ones. The child was calm again as Leatherhead examined her, trying not to hurt her with his claws.

Human met mutant for the first time.

Suddenly the baby laughed, flailing her little arms and reaching up to grab one of the crocodile's claws, not knowing that very claw could rip her apart should its owner want to. Leatherhead tried to draw his claw back, but the baby squealed and only tugged harder.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, little guy… err, girl." Leatherhead wasn't sure if this infant was a male or a female, he was not precisely an expert on that topic.

Eventually, due to the air of the sewer in her system or the stress of the day, the babe tired of grabbing the ivory claw yawned as she started to fall asleep. Grumbling, the crocodile cradled the girl in his hand. The girl burped happily.

"This is something you don't see everyday,…" the crocodile murmured. With a sigh, the baby shifted in her holder's palm, a tiny smile on her face.

"Well, I guess you and I will be together for a while," Leatherhead said, grinning slightly as he walked back the way he had come. "At least until I can get you back home," he whispered, walking languidly deep into the New York sewers.


	2. Alexandra

Thicker than Blood.

Chapter 2- Alexandra.

Leatherhead had silently made his way into the turtle's lair, holding the cradled infant in his hands, attempting not to disturb her slumber. The turtles were out, apparently they had gone in search of Mikey or April, so he was all alone, it seemed. Letting out a sigh, the crocodile made his way to the couch and carefully laid the baby upon the red velvet sofa. He sat down next to the furniture and silently stared at the sleeping baby.

What kind of monster would have abandoned such an innocent creature in the sewers? And how had she gotten there? After all, it was not common for humans to climb down into the sewers to abandond their infants. It made his heart clench with anger, the very though of the babe's parents flushing her down a toilet or drain, like he himself had as a hatchling. But he doubted a human infant even fit into a toilet.

"You're back."

Leatherhead nearly jumped, and went into his 'savage mode' (As Mikey had dubbed his habit to lose his mind and attack anything around him), hadn't the babe been present. Even if she would not remember it later on, he still didn't want her to see that side of him.

Splinter advanced towards the couch, having noticed the mutant crocodile staring down at the couch, "Is something the matter?" he asked.

"Actually, there is," Leatherhead replied, "I found something very… unusual while walking in the sewers."

Surprised, Splinter walked closer to the alligator, and although his expression remained mostly unchanged, his eyes opened a bit when he discovered an infant was lying on the couch, sleeping soundly.

"What do we have here?" he simply said, "How did it get here? Shouldn't it be above the surface with a family?"

Leatherhead sighed, "That's why I brought it here. I found it abandoned in one of the tunnels, and I couldn't just leave it there to die of starvation, or worse." If he had skin instead of a scaly hide, he would have been blushing for what he said next, "I wanted to ask you, Splinter… Can you tell its gender? I'm not exactly an expert on that…"

Chuckling softly, Splinter carefully moved the babe's blanket until her body was completely exposed, and after examining her closely, he smiled lightly, "Congratulations, Leatherhead. It's a healthy girl."

"A female?"

"The proper term for humans is girl, but yes, she is a female."

The girl started to shift in her shift, protesting from the cold; when she started to whimper, Leatherhead quickly but carefully scooped her up in his hands again to wrap the blanket around her once again, but to his and Splinter's surprise, as soon as he touched her she grew quiet and still again.

"Looks like she's grown attached to you," Splinter commented, rubbing his long, thing white beard, "And you just met."

Leatherhead remained silent. He was staring down at the babe with a loving gaze, feeling attached to her already himself. He had never felt this way for someone else, but guessed it was some kind of instinct buried in the corners of his brain.

"Have you named her yet?"

"No, I haven't," the crocodile replied, "I couldn't because I didn't know her… gender until not. Besides, I wanted to ask Mikey and the others for suggestions, I'm kind of new in this."

"All right, then," Splinter slowly turned around and walked away to his chamber, "If you need me, you know where to find me."

Saying this, the mutant rat retreated into his bedroom.

* * *

"AW! Isn't she a cutie?" Mikey attempted to get the girl to open her eyes, but Leatherhead didn't let him.

"Stop it," he whispered, "She's sleeping."

"I've never seen a newborn human this close," Donnie commented, taking a look at her, "Mind if I run some tests on her?"

Leatherhead gave him a glare that read 'Don't you even think of it.'

"What kind of person would have left her down here?" Leonardo added, "IT would have to be a black-hearted individual."

Raphael rolled his eyes, "How many black-hearted people do we know, genius?"

"Come on! I doubt Shredder is behind this!"

"Whoever did this has no forgiveness," the mutant alligator growled, "If I had not found her, who knows what would have become of her."

"Well, how about we name her?" Donnie suggested, "I don't think we should keep referring to her as 'baby'."

"I have an idea! How about Tallulah?" Mikey said excitedly, just to earn stares of confusion.

"What kind of name is that, 'Tallulah'? She's a human, not a canary!"" Raphael growled, "How about Dylan?"

"Damian!" said Donnie

"George?" Leonardo spoke next.

"Joe."

"Christopher."

"Knock it off!" Leonardo finally snapped, "Don't you see we're making a mistake? All of those are boy names!"

Leatherhead softly caressed the infant's cheek with his claw, trying not to hurt her; the girl let out one of the cutest cooing noises he had ever heard in his life (the first one, actually). He could recall his mother's name, from years ago, but now to him it was only a whisper; but at least it was a female name.

"How about Alexandra?" he spoke softly.

The turtles remained silent while their brain processed the name. After a while, Donnie was the first to smile.

"It's perfect!" he exclaimed.

"It's got a nice ring to it." Raphael added, "It's cool! Almost like _my_ name."

Leonardo rolled his eyes, "Seriously, Raph," he set his eyes on the newly-named newborn, "But it's a nice name."

"I still think Tallulah is a nice name," Mikey commented, before receiving annoyed stares. The turtle made a defeated pout, "Alright, I guess Alexandra is a good name for her, after all."

Alexandra seemed to agree with them, for she started giggling softly, squinting her little eyes; afterwards, she took her thumb to her mouth and started sucking on it, making the turtles let out an 'aaawwwww' simultaneously.

Leatherhead just kept staring down into her golden amberish stare, feeling drawn to them. Was this that feeling humans called 'love'? Not the kind of love April and Casey had for each other, obviously, but the kind of love April and her father had for each other.

Fatherly love, they called it.

This tiny girl in he was holding was _his_ daughter, his little Alexandra.

He did not care if she did not carry his blood, or if she was from a different species.

All he cared about was that she was his daughter, and he was her father.


	3. Fatherhood

Thicker Than Blood

Chapter 3

**Answer to purplefern's question.**

**LH is an alligator, but his head looks more like a crocodile's, that's why sometimes I vary the way as I refer to him as alligator or crocodile.**

**And so, on with the chapter.**

* * *

Leatherhead was awakened by the sound of baby crying.

Stretching out his muscles and hearing a few of his bones snapping due to the position in which he slept, the mutant alligator stood up, showing up his sharp teeth. He was back at his lair since the last night, and the turtles had insisted he take Alexandra with him. He had been reluctant at first, fearing that he might harm the babe should he lose control of his temper, but had agreed in the end.

Leatherhead walked closer to the baby's crib; an old basket April had found in her aunt's apartment, she also brought them diapers and a few baby bottles. Alexandra, or Alex, like Mikey dubbed her, was crying her lungs out, struggling violently, and kicking the air.

"There, there, it's okay, Alex…" the alligator whispered to her softly, gingerly taking her in his arms, "What's wrong? I fed you an hour ago, so I guess you're not hungry."

Soon a horrible smell reached his nose and filtered into his nostrils. Leatherhead brought his left hand to his nose to try and keep the smell out, but soon he had an idea of what was wrong with Alex, and where that rotten odor was coming from.

Reluctantly, he lifted Alex in his large, scaly hands and brought her to his snout. Closing his eyes shut, he took a sniff at her diaper.

The rotten aroma overwhelmed his nostrils and almost made him faint, confirming his theory, but he forced himself to remain conscious. Leatherhead quickly brought the babe down, getting her diaper away from his nose. Alex wouldn't stop crying, demanding to have her diaper changed.

"Yeah, I know, I know…" Leatherhead walked out of the subway wagon he had made his lair in, holding her close to his chest, trying to ignore the odor of her diaper. He had placed an old metal table outside for changing Alex's diaper; April had told him the smell was even worse when the diaper was taken off babies.

"Hey, LH!" Mikey's voice echoed in the abandoned tunnel, making the alligator look up towards the direction he had heard the turtle, and saw Mikey and Donnie approaching.

"What's up? We came to see if everything was-" the young turtle took his hands to his nose when the smell of the diaper reached his nose, "What's that smell?!"

Donnie sniffed the air, and soon took his own hands to his nose as well, "I think Alex just made her 'business', am I right?"

Leatherhead nodded as he took the diaper off Alex, but soon the smell clung in the air, making the alligator turn his head away, closing his stinging eyes.

"Mother of-!" he muttered, throwing the dirty diaper away and grabbing one of the napkins from one of the boxes nearby. He then started wiping Alexandra's crotch carefully, "I never thought human infants could be so dirty…"

"Hey, you're doing that wrong." Donnie pointed out, upon noticing the way Leatherhead was wiping the poop of his daughter's crotch.

The mutant gator gave him a look of confusion, "What?"

"You're doing that wrong, I think you're supposed to wipe front to back, you're wiping back to front. If you do that you'll get the poop into her…" Donnie felt rather awkward, "… crevice. That might give her the crotch-rot."

Leatherhead looked down at the babe's crotch in embarrassment, "Uh-oh."

Since it was already done, he had no other option but to finish wiping Alex's crotch, and grab the baby powder when he was done, "How much of this am I supposed to use?"

Donnie shrugged, "I don't know."

"If it's for the smell, you should use a lot." Mikey pointed out.

Leatherhead attempted to pour some of the powder into Alex's crotch, but for some reason it just wouldn't come out. He shook the bottle, but to no avail.

"I think you have to turn the top." Said Mikey.

Leatherhead examined the top of the bottle, trying to figure out how it worked; after turning the tape of the bottle lightly and squeezing it, the powder shot out of the bottle and landing on Donnie's face.

"That was *_cough* _not very nice!" Donnie growled, shaking the powder off his face and letting out a few more coughs, "Could you direct it at the baby the next time, please?"

Ignoring Donnatello for the moment, Leatherhead poured a bit of the powder into Alexandra's crotch and clean diaper. But he was not sure of how much he was supposed to use, so he turned to look at Mikey for further help, since Donnie was still shaking the powder off his face.

Mikey hesitated, "I'd say more."

The mutant alligator poured the entire bottle of powder into Alex's diaper before realizing he just made a mistake, "… That's a lot."

* * *

April and her father had been looking for Alexandra's parents, or at least a clue to where she came from. For the past few nights but they had no luck. Not even with Casey's help were they able to find anything about Alex's origins. They had checked on hospitals, orphanages and shelters but none of them had information regarding to a baby having been thrown into the sewers.

April fell into her bed with a sigh of exhaustion, letting her muscles relax, wondering how Leatherhead was doing with the baby. When she and her father went down to the turtle's lair and found him holding the newborn, they had assumed someone had lost the baby and wanted to return her. But as soon as they got closet, Leatherhead had gone into his aggression state and refused to hand her over.

It took half an hour to calm him down.

Then the turtles explained to them the alligator had found the baby abandoned in the sewers. It was no wonder why he didn't want to give her back to whoever did that to her. However, they realized they would not be able to take the babe from Leatherhead; he had grown immediately attached to her, and he would never give her up to anyone.

Still, April and the turtles had insisted that they should at least find out where she came from. Perhaps her parents had actually lost her, and were out looking for her. After arguing for an hour, Leatherhead finally agreed, but he said that he would keep the babe should the parents not appear or turn out to be the cold-hearted people he considered them to be.

He had been serious about the whole thing, actually.

She had never seen him become like that for someone.

Finally, exhaustion overcame her and she fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

Leatherhead silently watched Alex sleeping soundly on his arms, sucking one of his claws innocently. He still didn't understand how she didn't fear him; in fact, everytime she set his eyes on him, he found no trace of fright on her face. It seemed as if she actually enjoyed his company. Then again, babies didn't knew the difference between humans and mutants, not yet at least.

Holding her closer against his chest, he wondered if his child could feel his heartbeats. Donnie had read him a book about babies (which April had lent them) from which he learned babies needed to be held as much as possible, since they learned how to trust that way. Did that mean she trusted him?

Alex started to shift uncomfortably in his arms, but she didn't make a sound. Her eyes opened slightly and stared up at him curiously. He couldn't help but grin at her.

"Hello there," he spoke to her, "I'm sorry for what happened earlier with your diaper."

She didn't reply, but he knew she would learn to recognize his voice.

"You know, I never imagined I'd hold a baby like you. After all, look at me," he gloomily stared down at his body, "I mean, what female would lay her eyes on me? If she did, it would probably yell and run away in five seconds. I'm not sure if you understand what I mean, but…" the crocodile nuzzled his nose against her cheek, "No matter what happens, I want you to know that I love you, my dear."

Alex stared at him for a while, as if processing what he just told her. Finally, her eyes started to shutter for a second time and she was soon fast asleep.

Leatherhead gently placed the infant on her cradle, wrapped her in her pink blankets and kissed her cheek. He stroked her cheek with his claw gingerly before walking away to his bed.

The fiasco with the diaper, then watching her sleep, made him feel sleepy.


	4. First Words

Thicker than Blood

Chapter 4

Alex giggled as she crawled towards her father's sleeping figure. She loved wherever he was snoring, for some reason she had always found it funny; he was lying on the ground, always sleeping with his stomach facing down, curled up in a ball. Alex finally came to the side of Leatherhead's head and started climbing up his snout, until she was down-faced on his snout.

Leatherhead stirred slightly when he felt something warm touching his scaly face. He opened his eyes slowly, and was surprised to find Alex had climbed onto his snout and was currently attempting to climb unto his head. Smiling, the crocodile carefully sat down and lifted the toddler from his head, holding her a few centimeters from his nose.

"Good morning, Alex," he smiled at her, "Thanks for waking me up, but I'd like it better if you walked, don't you think?"

Alex stared innocently at him, making him wonder if she knew what he meant. A year ago all she did was eat and sleep, but now he felt he needed to keep a closer eye on her. Even for her age she had shown great signs of intelligence, mainly the way she managed to sneak out of her crib to explore the trailer. Wherever he took Alex with him to pay the turtles a visit, she spent most of the time playing with Mikey, and Raph spent his time attempting to make her laugh.

For some reason, she grew serious wherever she saw him.

Cradling his daughter in his arms -she was now big enough for him to hold him in his arms with no trouble-, Leatherhead walked out of the trailer and headed towards the turtles' lair, deciding Alex needed some fun. And who was better for that than Mikey?

"So, Alex…" Leatherhead decided to pass time by speaking to her, "What have you been doing?"

Alex simply stared up at him.

"Yeah, I know, silly question." The crocodile blushed, "It's not like you can reply yet, right?"

No reply. But the same expression.

Leatherhead sighed in dismay, "At least you listen to me. I don't really mind if you don't reply, you're still too young to talk, aren't you?"

When the baby didn't reply, Leatherhead remained quiet the rest of the way.

Kirby waited for the mutant alligator to arrive. He wanted to speak with Leatherhead in private about the baby. April, now seventeen, was in college, and in a few months she would start checking for universities to study genetic engineering. He couldn't stop worrying about Alexandra growing around mutants; for some reason, he thought it was inappropriate for her. He thought she still had a chance to be taken up to the surface to be raised by a normal family.

But he knew, or course, Leatherhead would oppose it.

"LH!" Mikey cried out, making the others know the gator had arrived. "Oh, and who's here! Here's the cutest little baby in the world! Coo-chee-coo-chee-wooo!

Alex giggled when the turtle started to make faces at her; Raph, who was just in his way to see if there were any leftovers of last night's pizza, noticed what Mikey was doing with the baby. However, as soon as he walked closer, Alex stopped giggling stared at him like he was some kind of weirdo to her.

"Aww, the baby hates you." Donnie spoke outloud when passing by towards his room, annoying the red-clad turtle.

"I'll make you swallow up your words!" Raph immediately ran after Donnie, who dashed out for his room once he realized Raphael's intentions.

Leatherhead chuckled; that was one of the reasons he liked the turtles so much, they always made him laugh once or twice wherever he paid them a visit.

"Leatherhead," Kirby's voice made his mood drop down abruptly, "I need to speak to you in private."

"Sure," the alligator replied coldly before turning to look at Mikey, "Would you mind taking Alex someplace else? I don't want her to watch if things get ugly."

Mikey nodded and gingerly took the baby from her adoptive father, "How about we go have some fun, Alex?"

When Mikey left for his room with the baby, Leatherhead crossed his arms and glared slightly at Kirby; it was not that they didn't like each other, but their opinions about Alexandra's upbringing often clashed.

"What?" Leatherhead coldly asked.

"First of all, I want you to know that I'm not your enemy," Kirby replied, "I'm just worried about the environment the baby is growing in, that's all."

"What's that supposed to mean? You think I'm not fit to raise her?"

"It's not about being fit to raise her! It's about the environment! Look at his!" Kirby motioned him to look around, "I don't think growing up in a sewer is appropriate for her!"

Leatherhead's temper started to spike, "What's wrong with the sewer?! If you ask me, it's not as dangerous as the surface!"

"Please, Leatherhead! You're a… a… and she's a human being!"

"What were you doing to say?" Leatherhead narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists, "You were going to call me a freak, weren't you? A monster!"

"No! I just…" Kirby massaged his temples, "I think she deserves to grow up in a normal family, with her own kind!"

"You will have to go through my corpse first if you think I'll let you take my daughter from me!"

"Just think about it! What are you going to do when she is old enough to go to school? Have you thought of that? Have you ever thought if she'll be happy? If she's happy?!"

Leatherhead grew quiet and his thoughts drifted away. _Was she happy?_

_It was night, and luckily there were no storms tonight. The mess Alex had made on the floor was gone. It had taken elbow work, but his wagon was clean and smell of lemon (Mikey had lent him some sort of aromatized air-spray). _

_The baby would not stop squirming in his arms, however, as if she was uncomfortable or he had forgotten to do something. He had changed her diaper, given her the bottle and burped her, so what was wrong with her. The last option was if she just wanted to sleep._

_Leatherhead bounced her gently to try and lull her a little, but she just started to whimper; apparently, she didn't like it, or he wasn't doing it properly. Besides, he just cleaned, and he liked the lemon scent much more than baby vomit smell._

"_What do you want, Alex? I'm running out of ideas!" Leatherhead cried out in dismay, not knowing what to do._

_Soon, he started to remember of a way to calm down infants and lull them to sleep, but he knew no lullabies. He had never heard one, actually, so there was little he could do… unless he made one up for her, and her alone._

_Leatherhead looked down at Alexandra and gently, softly, started singing._

_You are my sunshine,_

_My only sunshine,_

_You make me happy,_

_When skies are gray,_

_You'll never know, dear,_

_How much I love you,_

_Oh don't you take,_

_My sunshine away._

_By the time he was done singing, Alex was already asleep, her face snuggling against his scaly chest. Smiling, Leatherhead gently out Alex back on her crib and tucked her in before kissing her cheek gently. _

Leatherhead hardened his jaw, "Yes. She is happy."

Kirby let out an exasperation sigh, "Just think about it, would you?"

After the professor was gone, Leatherhead regained his calm, but he was still sore about Kirby's words. He was not fit to raise a child? He was as fit as any normal person!

"LH!" Raphael's terrorized voice broke the silence, alerting the alligator.

Leatherhead rushed towards Raph's bedroom, and was rather amused at the sight: Raphael staring agape at his vomit-dirtied comics and magazines, Alex giggling at seeing the turtle's face, and Mikey attempting to hide.

"I'm not even going to ask what happened." Leatherhead sighed.

He was surprised when Alex recognized his voice and crawled towards him, then took a hold of his foot. Still, he grinned, picking her up. Raph was still staring at his once impeccable collection.

"Papa…"

Leatherhead froze.

He looked down at Alex, and she was staring up at him curiously. Had that word actually escaped her lips? Or was he starting to imagine things? Mikey had gotten closer, suspecting the same as him, but Raph didn't move an inch and his expression didn't change.

Mikey whispered softly, but it was clear he was as surprised as the mutant crocodile, "Did she do what I think she did…?"

"Papa…" Alex repeated.

Leatherhead could swear he felt his eyes tearing up, but he didn't want to cry in front of the turtles. Still, he was moved by her first words. It seemed she considered him to be her dad, after all. He didn't notice Mikey running out of the room, yelling that Alex had said her first word, wanting the others to be present.

But right then, it was only he and his daughter.


	5. Rattling Mayhem

Thicker than Blood

Chapter 5- Rattling

"Come on, Alex." Leatherhead held out his arms towards the two year old. "You can do it."

Having turned two yeas a few weeks ago, Donnie said soon she would be able to walk, or at least she would try. But since she was too young and she did not know how to keep her balance yet, he would need to be very careful about it or she would trip and get hurt. Every morning, he tried to get Alex to walk, but she either didn't listen or was distracted, or would try to walk when he wasn't watching, which had often ended up with Alex tripping and hurting a part of her little body. Then she cried her lungs out until he scooped her up in his arms and calmed her down.

Leatherhead sighed in exasperation as he sat down next to Alex, just staring at him curiously. The alligator glanced at her.

"Why must you always attempt to walk when I'm not watching? One of these days you're going to get a cerebral trauma from all the bumps you had."

No reply.

"I can't wait until you started speaking, Alex." Leatherhead blushed. "At least you'll reply."

He had the habit to speak to her casually, despite knowing she would not know how to reply just yet. She simply stared at him, nothing else. She had learned a few words already, like 'papa', 'miky', 'laolardo', 'donny', and 'gumpy' (she had once caught Leonardo calling Rapha 'grumpy', and from then on she called him that, much to Rapha's dismay).

Alex had grown only a bit in the past year, and her hair was starting to grow slightly, reaching her shoulder by a few inches. Her amberish gold eyes were filled with life, and a cuteness no one could resist. Even Splinter was enchanted by her adorable face, so much that he never minded if she had one of her little 'accidents' in the rug (Mikey never had such luck).

Ever since his 'talk' with April's father, Leatherhead grew increasingly hostile towards the man, to the point he never let Alex near him, both due to his distrust in the human and his fear that one of those times Kirby would snatch his daughter away.

Alex crawled toward her father's leg and attempted to climb into it, earning Leatherhead's attention. Sighing, Leatherhead picked her up and held her close to his chest, staring down at her.

"You know, Alex, I kind of know how you feel." He whispered. "Well, not really, you must not even recall your…" he spat the next word. "… Parents. But hey, I barely remember my own mother. I don't even know why she abandoned me, the only thing I recall is the boy who raised me for a short while being the first being I ever saw when I hatched."

Leatherhead felt his eyes tearing up, but he contained them for the moment.

"Papa…" Alex mumbled, kicking the air.

Letting out another sigh, Leatherhead caressed his baby's cheek tenderly. "I wish I could know what you're thinking, Alex. At least I wouldn't feel like I'm talking by myself. You know, I'm wondering what Mikey is doing right now."

"Where is it?!" Mikey frantically turned his room upside down, sending comics into the air, his bed sheets to the ground, and the leftovers of his pizza all around the room. Leatherhead would kill him! However did he lose a baby rattle in less than one night?! He had left it in his room last night before he and Donnie went out to look for some bugs he needed to complete a research. But when he returned he found the rattle to be missing.

Rapha laughed as he heard the ruckus in Mikey's room before resuming in watching _Glee_. For some reason, he found that human TV show to be rather… entertaining, despite all the singing and dancing. However, always changed the channel wherever someone came into the living room. He would not let his brothers or father he actually liked to watch those kind of TV shows, or he would be the laughing stock of the month. Rapha quickly changed the channel when he heard Leonardo's footsteps, stopping in the wrestling match conveniently at the same hour as Glee. When the turtle clad in blue heard the noise in Mikey's room, and noticed Rapha's mischievous grin, he knew his brother had done something.

"What did you do now, Rapha?" Leo crossed his arms while giving his brother a suspicious look,

"Me?" Rapha replied exaggerating surprise. "Other than taking Leatherhead's rattle from Mikey's desk and hiding it, nothing in particular."

"Rapha, you know how much that rattle means to Leatherhead! If you actually lost it, he'll be very angry!"

Donnie poked his head from his door, having overheard the conversation. "Angry? I'd say he'd go into one of his 'rampages'. Not to mention-"

Donnie yelped in pain as Mikey's door swung open and came into contact with his nose. "Guys, have you seen Leatherhead's rattle around here?! It was in my room, but I can't find it anywhere!"

"Rapha hid-" Before Leo could finish, Raphael knocked him to the ground with one of his comics, stunning Leonardo momentarily.

"No, we haven't seen it anywhere." Rapha said innocently while turning his gaze back to the TV.

Mikey groaned in frustration and rushed away to search in other parts of the lair, in case he had forgotten it somewhere. Leo got back to his feet and gave Rapha a glare while Donnie rubbed his nose.

"That wasn't very nice, you know!"

Rapha rolled his eyes. "Come on, Leonardo! When will you develop a sense of humor?"

"Maybe when your pranks are actually funny!"

"Hey, where did you put it, anyway?" Donnie inquired once he was done with his nose.

"In a place where he will never find it. HA!"

Donnie let on an exasperation sigh. "Let me guess, in your room under your mattress, am I right?"

Rapha's eye twitched for a few seconds, before dashing towards his room with a loud growl.

"You'll pay for this, Donnatello!" he snapped.

Leo and Donnie simply high-fived with satisfied grins in their faces.

**I APOLOGIZE FOR SUCH A SHORT CHAPTER!**

**I'm sorry, I know I have no excuse to have such a shortie chapter after such a long delay, but with my exams two and a half weeks ago I got a writer's block!**

**WHHYYY!**

**I'd thank you if you could help me with some ideas. ThB will be finished, never fear, it's just that it might take me long whiles in finishing chapters.**

**MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!**

**- Ladyanaconda.**


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